Tired of high taxes? Maybe it's time to move

Everyone complains about taxes. But millions of American households apparently are doing something about it: Picking up and moving.

A CNBC analysis of tax data and figures provided by two major national moving companies shows that states with the highest per-capita taxes, for the most part, are also seeing the biggest net migration out of those states.

Read MoreWhy your state may be forced to raise your taxes

Take Connecticut, for example.

Earlier this week, the Nutmeg State's legislature approved a collection of new taxes to close a two-year, $40 billion budget to help pay the multibillion-dollar tab to repair and replace the state's dilapidated roads and bridges. The package includes a 50-cent-per-pack hike in cigarette taxes and a bump in tax rates on corporations and the state's wealthiest earners.

The budget battle drew heated debate, along with threats from large employers like General Electric, which issued a rare statement that it might consider moving its Fairfield headquarters.

Republican opponents warned that the tax hikes would likely drive residents to flee to lower-tax states. One legislator suggested that a local moving-and-storage company up for sale should do a booming business moving households from the state.

"I think the best buy in Connecticut right now is a business for sale in Westport," Michael A. McLachlan, R-Danbury, told the AP earlier this month as the debate wore on. "For $650,000, a sharp investor can get up and increase this business into a mega moving company, because that's what people are going to be doing, starting today."

Based on an analysis of 10 years of tax data and the figures provided by United Van Lines and Atlas Van Lines, Sen. McLachlan may be on to something.

Via: CNBC

Continue Reading....

John Roberts has the black robes, and the interpretive gifts, too.

In the matter of the so-called Affordable Care Act, the Supreme Court ruled that the law must not say what it in fact does say because it would be better if it were not to say what it says and were to say something else instead. In the matter of same-sex marriage, the Supreme Court rules that the law must say what it does not say because it would be better if it were to say what it does not say instead of what it says. Which is to say, the Supreme Court has firmly established that it does not matter what the law says or does not say — what matters is what they want. 

That texts may be imaginatively interpreted to any end is not news — “The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose,” as William Shakespeare observed in The Merchant of Venice. The legendary constitutional scholar Barack Obama failed to notice, until the day before yesterday, that the Constitution mandates the legalization of homosexual marriage from sea to shining sea, but, to be fair, that is an easy provision to overlook, even for a mind as keen as Barack Obama’s, since the Constitution does not say one word about marriage, much less about the state-level codification of homosexual couplings being a fundamental federal right.

Jiggery-pokery” is putting it generously. 

But scriptural interpretation is a funny business. I grew up on the edges of some wildly entertaining fundamentalist circles in West Texas, and I very much enjoyed hearing mail-order theologians explain how, sometime between turning water into wine at that famous wedding and pouring out a round for the guys at the Last Supper, Jesus very subtly declared alcohol verboten. Put any given text on the rack, and you can prove Ronald Coase’s dictum: If you torture the evidence enough, it will confess to anything. 

Constitutional torture is an art, and Chief Justice John Roberts has emerged as its Andy Warhol: an impresario who will put his name on anything. It is uncomfortable to think about, but our Supreme Court functions in much the same way as Iran’s Guardian Council: It is a supralegislative body of purported scholars, distinguished by ceremonial black robes, that imaginatively applies ancient doctrines “conscious of the present needs and the issues of the day,” as the ayatollahs over there and over here both put it, deciding — discovering! — what is mandatory and what is forbidden as the shifting currents of politics dictate. The main difference is that the Iranians take their sharia rather more seriously than we take our constitutional law: John Roberts’s opinion in Burwell wasn’t just wrong — wrong can be forgiven — it was embarrassing, craven, and intellectually indefensible. Antonin Scalia was right to let him have it with both barrels, but he’d do better to resign from the Supreme Court — it is difficult to see how an honorable man could be associated with it.

Via: National Review

Continue Reading....

Authorities Warn of Potential Fourth of July Terror Attacks

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson says his department is encouraging law enforcement "to be vigilant and prepared" ahead of the July 4th holiday in the U.S. following attacks in France, Tunisia and Kuwait. 

Johnson says people should attend Independence Day events as planned but "remain vigilant" and report any suspicious activity.

He says U.S. authorities will adjust security measures, including those unseen by the public, as necessary.

On  Sunday, House Homeland Security Chairman Mike McCaul said Americans should heed the government's warning. 

"It is concerning," McCaul told "Fox News Sunday." There is a great deal of chatter, a high volume," he said of terrorist network communications.

He noted that a spokesman for the Islamic State (ISIS) has called for jihad during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan — currently under way — the one-year anniversary of the establishment of the ISIS caliphate and the American Independence Day holiday.

In addition to that confluence is the "Bloody Friday" attacks in France, Tunisia and Kuwait, all within hours of each other, in which ISIS claimed credit.

The warning to Americans was issued jointly by the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the National Counterterrorism Center.

"I think given these confluence of events we're being on the cautious side here to warn the public to remain vigilant," McCaul said, "to enjoy the Fourth of July parades, but remain vigilant during these celebrations."

Foiled terror plots have increased "exponentially" in the past year, McCaul said, because of Internet recruiting. 

"I'm extremely concerned about the way the Syrian ISIS recruiters can use the Internet at lightning speed to recruit followers in the United States, with thousands of followers in the United States," he said, "And then activate them to do whatever they want to do, whether it's military installations, law enforcement or, possibly, a Fourth of July event parade."

A gunman killed at least 37 people and wounded 36 in an attack on a beach resort in Tunisia Friday. In Kuwait, a suicide bomber killed at least 25 people, while a man with suspected ties to French Islamic radicals rammed a car into a gas factory in southeastern France, triggering an explosion that injured two people. The severed head of a local businessman was left hanging at the factory's entrance.

While there was no specific or credible threat of attack, one law enforcement official told USA Today that a new intelligence bulletin is alerting local colleagues to the ongoing threats posed by the group that calls itself the Islamic State [also known as ISIS or ISIL] and other homegrown extremists. The official was not authorized to comment publicly.

The bulletins are frequently issued in advance of major U.S. holidays out of an abundance of caution and concern that operatives may exploit the timing to generate greater attention.

The FBI and other agencies have worked to disrupt a number of Islamic State-inspired plots, including a planned assault earlier this month on police officers in Boston. In that case, authorities fatally shot Usaamah Rahim as he allegedly planned to attack police with military-style knives.

Via: Newsmax

Continue Reading....

GOP gov.: "Time to move on" from same-sex marriage

Possible Republican presidential candidate and Ohio Gov. John Kasich believes it's "time to move on" from the same-sex marriage issue in the wake of the Supreme Court's landmark ruling.

"I do believe in traditional marriage and the court has ruled and it's time to move on," Kasich said on CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday, adding that there's "so many other things now that we have to focus on."

Kasich, who has not yet officially announced a bid for the White House in 2016, believes the country needs to wait and see "how this evolves."

"I think everybody needs to take a deep breath to see how this evolves," the Ohio governor, who was the named defendant in the original lawsuit brought by Jim Obergefell over same-sex marriage, said. "But I know this. Religious institutions, religious entities - you know, like the Catholic church - they need to be honored as well. I think there's an ability to strike a balance."

But while the Republican governor has conceded that "it's the law of the land and we'll abide by it," some in the conservative wing have expressed their willingness to take on the same-sex marriage fight over the long term.

Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention told CBS' "Face the Nation" that people of faith "are not going to simply surrender" their traditional marriage views because of the Supreme Court ruling.

"We didn't make up our views on marriage and sexuality, and we can't unmake them," Moore said Sunday. "We understand that in the short term, things are very stacked against us here, but we ought to have the pluralistic American environment where we can agree to disagree."

Instead, Moore added, "we're going to have to take a page from the pro-life movement and see this as a long-term strategy."

"I don't think that an infinitely elastic view of marriage is sustainable," the evangelical leader said. "I think we have to be the people who keep the light lit to the old ways when it comes to marriage and family and that's going to be a generation-long skirmish."

Via: CBS News

Continue Reading.....

Greece will close banks Monday as panic spreads

ATHENS — In an ominous sign Sunday that Greece is speeding toward a banking collapse, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced that Greek banks will be closed Monday amid last-ditch discussions about his nation’s economic future.

The decision was a sign that Greece’s half-decade battle to stay in the shared euro currency may swiftly be coming to an end. ATMs in Athens were running out of money, and tensions were running high Sunday as Greeks stood in line for hours to scrape together petty cash for basic supplies. Lines mounted at gas stations as worried residents topped off their tanks for what could be a period of time in a cashless nation.

“The decision not to prolong financial aid to Greece is offensive, and it’s a disgrace for Europe in general,” Tsipras said in a brief Sunday evening address broadcast across Greek television networks.

There were signs that Greece’s creditors — the International Monetary Fund and euro-zone governments — were leaving the door open to negotiations. But it remained deeply unclear ahead of a Tuesday repayment deadline how Greece would be able manage its finances without going into default.

Tsipras said that he had asked E.U. leaders to extend their assistance to Greece past the Tuesday deadline, calling the threat to cut it off “blackmail.” But he gave no concrete indications that he had made any concessions that would cause them to change their minds.

Via: Washington Post

Continue Reading....

Defense contractors compete for huge bomber contract

In the coming weeks, the U.S. Air Force will announce the biggest defense deal of the decade. It will also be the last contract for a new manned combat aircraft for probably 20 years. (Tweet This)

Whoever wins the bid will have years' worth of manufacturing work. Whoever loses may have to exit the business of building piloted military aircraft.

The Long Range Strike-Bomber will replace an aging bomber fleet whose oldest aircraft go back to the Korean War. The Air Force has revealed little about what it wants out of the new bomber, but one thing is clear: it does not want an explosive price tag. The most recent bomber contract went to Northrop Grumman for the B-2, which first flew in 1989. The Pentagon purchased only 21 of the sleek, stealthy aircraft, at a cost of $2 billion each.

This time, the Air Force wants to buy up to 100 bombers and keep the price to $550 million per aircraft. Add in an estimated $20 billion for research and development, and the total value of the contract could close in on $80 billion. The new bomber should be airborne in 10 years.

Source: Northrop Grumman

An advertisement from Northrop Grumman touting their experience in delivery the world's most advance military aircrafts.

Many wonder—with good reason, given the recent history of military aircraft contracts—whether the cost can really be kept to $550 million per plane. One strategy may be to build a plane that uses existing technology with an open architecture that allows future upgrades.

Via: CNBC

Continue Reading....

This 21-Year-Old Conservative Is Challenging The Left On Its Home Turf

Charlie Kirk is a 21-year-old energetic entrepreneur from Lemont, Illinois, who is committed to piercing the left’s stranglehold of the minds of American youth.

Three years ago, he launched Turning Point USA to be a new “clipboard and tennis shoes” grassroots organizing force on college campuses. Today, he is the Executive Director and has 40 staffers, 220 chapters, membership across the nation and affiliates that take their influence to over 1000 campuses.

On campuses, he runs into MoveOn.org, the Sierra Club, Planned Parenthood and, most recently, a flood of Hillary for America paid field agents, but he knows and feels he is on to something big.

While Republican or think tank outreach to youth seems “stale” to him, Kirk finds innovative ways to use the culture to connect and show how progressive ideas are perilous to young peoples’ dreams. Turning Point USA’s posters and pamphlets are based on “skepticism of big power by relating it to the Hunger Games, the corruption inherently held in our governmental system in House of Cards, the feudalistic type power struggle that goes on in Game of Thrones.”

One of his most popular posters simply says, “Big Government Sucks!”

Kirk is excited to be a part of this new “counter-cultural, counter-institutional grassroots movement of students rising up fighting back against what has become a liberal, collectivist dominance of higher education and the younger generation.” Kirk believes he is witnessing a “historic rising up of the millennial generation against governmental power.”

Commenting on the hotbeds of intolerance, infantilizing “safe spaces” and rising bigotry to Jews and Christians cropping up on American campuses, Kirk says these developments are “alarming.”

“Liberal professors on campus are very tolerant as long as you hold their beliefs,” Kirk says. “I have never seen a cohort in people in power have such intolerance to constitutional, American, patriotic, free market, capitalistic beliefs.”

Via: Daily Caller

Continue Reading....

U.S. Bishop Tobin on Gay Marriage: 'Blatant Rejection of God's Plan,' From the 'Father of Lies'

Pope Francis, who says homosexual marriage is an

"attempt to destory God's plan" and comes from "the

                                                                   father of lies," Satan.  (AP)

(CNSNews.com) -- In reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling today that homosexual marriage is a right, Bishop Thomas J. Tobin, head of the Catholic diocese of Providence, Rhode Island, said "a thousand courts" may rule what they want but gay marriage "is morally wrong" and a "rejection of God's plan for the human family."

Quoting Pope Francis, Bishop Tobin further said that homosexual marriage comes from "the father of lies," Satan, "who seeks to confuse and deceive the children of God."

"A thousand courts may rule otherwise, but the very notion of 'same-sex marriage' is morally wrong and a blatant rejection of God’s plan for the human family," said Bishop Tobin in a June 26 post on Facebook. 

He continued, "As Pope Francis taught while serving as Archbishop in Argentina: 'Same-sex marriage is not simply a political struggle, but it is an attempt to destroy God’s plan. It is a move of the ‘father of lies’ who seeks to confuse and deceive the children of God.'"
"Despite the current trends of our society, or perhaps because of them, the Church must redouble its commitment to proclaim and defend authentic concepts of marriage and family as we have received them from God," said Bishop Tobin.  "We will always do so, however, in a respectful, charitable and constructive manner."

In its 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court concluded that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry regardless of where they lived in the United States. The ruling was made by the five liberal justices on the Court: Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.  The four conservative justices dissented: Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and John Roberts. 

Bishop Thomas J. Tobin is the former auxiliary bishop of Pittsburgh, Penn. Tobin was appointed to the Diocese of Providence in 2005 by then-Pope John Paul II. The Diocese of Providence was established in 1872 and currently serves an estimated 679, 000 Catholics in Rhode Island. 

Via: CNS News

Continue Reading....

Obama's Amazing Disgrace of a Eulogy

Fresh off a victory lap in the Rose Garden where the #LOVEWINS president narcissistically defined agreeing with him as “love,” President Obama segued from LGBTQ rights into racial rancor and Biblical misrepresentation during a eulogy where he also defined “God’s grace” as agreeing with him.

Taking to the pulpit at slain Charleston Emanuel A.M.E. Church’s pastor and state Senator Clementa Pinckney’s going-home celebration, Barack ‘Can you say Amen’ Obama assumed a black-preacher cadence and began the eulogy by “Giving all praise and honor to [a] God” whose Word the president normally revises with as much liberality as he does the U.S. Constitution.

Wily, crafty, and well done, the president’s torturous twisting of Scripture was rivaled only by Chief Justice John Robert’s opinion on Obamacare.

After a perfunctory acknowledgement of the slain pastor’s wife, daughters, and church family, the president cracked a few self-deprecating jokes before diving headlong into a discourse

Wily, crafty, and well done, the president’s torturous twisting of Scripture was rivaled only by Chief Justice John Robert’s opinion on Obamacare.

After a perfunctory acknowledgement of the slain pastor’s wife, daughters, and church family, the president cracked a few self-deprecating jokes before diving headlong into a discourse on racial and progressive politics.

Pinckney was a Democrat senator representing the “Lowcountry” of South Carolina, so the president began by entertaining the possibility that the senator was unable to get resources to address inadequate schools, poverty, child hunger, and lack of healthcare because he was in the political minority.

From that point forward, the president was in full-on, pedal-to-the-metal racial-injustice mode. Quite frankly, Obama’s self-serving eulogy exploited a dead man to offer racial grievances, latent hostility, and under the guise of grace, justify a buffet of tired liberal solutions.

Via: American Thinker

Continue Reading....

GOP Sen. Inhofe: A Lot of My Gay Friends Think SCOTUS Decision Was Bad

In reaction to the Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriages across all 50 states, Sen.James Inhofe (R-OK) pulled the “some of my friends are gay” card, but not in the way you’d normally expect.

“I’ve been disappointed, and I was not surprised. I thought they would rule the way they did,” Inhofe told Tulsa’s CBS-affiliated KOTV. “I know a lot of people, actually a lot of people who are friends of mine in the gay community, who also think it was a bad decision,” he added in the clip first spotted by BuzzFeed News reporter Andrew Kaczynski

Via: Mediaite

Continue Reading....

Obama sheds cool style for 'fearless' final lap in office

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Barack Obama has reached the stage of his presidency where if he wants to break out in song publicly, as he did with “Amazing Grace” in a eulogy on Friday, then he’s going to do it.

With a year-and-a-half left in office, Obama is shedding some of his trademark “no drama” style for a looser approach, admitting that he feels more fearless and liberated.

It may also be in recognition that he has few big-ticket policy achievements left to enjoy in polarized Washington as the end of his two-term presidency approaches.

In a remarkable week for the president, a victory on Pacific Rim trade was snatched from the jaws of defeat on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. The Supreme Court on Thursday validated his signature healthcare law, guaranteeing he would accomplish a central second-term goal, to protect the 2010 Affordable Care Act from being dismantled by Republicans.

The icing on the cake came on Friday with the high court’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage, a move Obama said was a "big step" toward equality for Americans.

After the court decision was announced, Obama took a Rose Garden victory lap.

“Progress on this journey often comes in small increments, sometimes two steps forward, one step back," he said.

"And then sometimes, there are days like this when that slow, steady effort is rewarded with justice that arrives like a thunderbolt.”

Some Obama confidants described a more liberated, even feistier president, willing to mix it up with a heckler inside the White House, as he did on Wednesday. Or willing to use a racial epithet, long abandoned by civil society, to describe black people in urging more racial unity.

Why the change in style? He has more experience now, the president said in a podcast interview last week with comedian Marc Maron.

Via: Yahoo News

Continue Reading....

GOP lawmakers call on Obama to fire OPM chief after massive data breach

WASHINGTON –  House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, along with 17 other Republican lawmakers, on Friday called on President Obama to fire the embattled officials whose agency fell victim to a massive hack exposing federal employee data and security clearance information. 

Echoing statements he recently made at a House hearing, Chaffetz and the other lawmakers blamed Katherine Archuleta, director of the Office of Personnel Management, for the breach that’s been described as one of the worst in U.S. history. Chief Information Officer Donna Seymour should also be dismissed, a letter to Obama states.

“Simply put, the recent breach was entirely foreseeable, and Director Archuleta and CIO Donna Seymour failed to take steps to prevent it from happening despite repeated warnings,” the two-page letter states. 

Officials are still exploring the extent of the breach. Though it was initially reported that about 4 million people were affected, lawmakers have since been told a pair of hacks are expected to affect at least 18 million -- and as many as 30 million. 

According to the Inspector General’s FY 2014 audit, 11 out of 47 major information systems at OPM lacked proper security authorization. Five of those systems were under Seymour.

Via: Fox News

Continue Reading...

[VIDEO] North Carolina man surrounds home with Confederate flags

ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. — Neighbors are upset after a Rocky Mount man added more Confederate flags to his yard following the Charleston shooting.

Edward West, who lives in a predominately African-American neighborhood, now has 150 Confederate flags in his yard, according to WITN.

His neighbors told WITN he’s flown a Confederate flag in his yard for several years, but even more flags went up after last week’s killings at a historic black church in Charleston.

West said to him the Confederate flag means, “I got my own property and nobody can tell me what to do with it.”

The flags cover West’s front and backyard, which are surrounded by “no trespassing” signs and barbed wire.

Some neighbors told WITN they don’t mind West flying the flags, but others see them as a sign of hate.

According to city officials, the flags are legal and there are no codes regarding flying them on private property.

Via: Myfox8

Continue Reading....

REP. DARRELL ISSA: OBAMACARE RULING A ‘LOSS FOR THE CONSTITUTION’

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)

57%

LIBERTYSCORE™

VOTING RECORD

F

57%

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)

 weighed in on Thursday’s divisive Supreme Court ruling, which upheld a key element of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) by essentially rewriting the textof the legislation in order to save it, dubbing it a “loss for the Constitution.”

“Today’s Supreme Court decision is a loss for the Constitution and amounts to an egregious expansion of executive power,” Rep. Issa wrote in a statement he published to his website.

Issa also took to Twitter to express his disdain:

A portion of Justice Scalia’s blistering dissent from King v Burwell. #SCOTUSCare#SCOTUS #KingvBurwell #tcot pic.twitter.com/jgJAYKnRQB

— 

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)

57%

 (@DarrellIssa) June 25, 2015

His fellow Republicans, 

Rep. Steve Knight (R-CA)

33%

 and 

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA)

67%

, remained mum on the ruling.

Issa continued by stating that the wording of the Affordable Care Act “Could not have been more clear or limiting in its scope, applying only to exchanges established by the states.” He continued that the decision essentially hands “President Obama a $4 trillion check to spend as he sees fit, contrary to Congress’ and the states’ clearly expressed wishes.”

Furthermore, “It flies in the face of one of the principles most fundamental to the American form of government: the separation of powers that gives Congress – not the executive branch, and certainly not agenda-driven agencies like the IRS – the sole ability to write laws.”

San Diego’s Democratic House member 

Rep. Susan Davis (D-CA)

4%

 had more decorated words to provide in light of Obamacare’s survival:

Agree with #SCOTUS Chief Justice Roberts: Congress passed the #ACA to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them. #ACAisWorking

— 

Rep. Susan Davis (D-CA)

4%

 (@RepSusanDavis) June 25, 2015

Via: Breitbart

Continue Reading....